Mac & Eats Booth Menu & Review: 2022 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
Mac & Eats is a booth serving “inventive” macaroni and cheese during the 2022 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival at Walt Disney World. In this Global Marketplace review, we’ll look at the menu prices, share food photos, and offer thoughts on what is—and is not—worth your money.
The Mac & Cheese marketplace was one of our favorites the last couple of years. It was one of a few with corporate sponsors, something that I often find groan-worthy as it means the unnecessary inclusion of almond milk into recipes or the booth selling overpriced plastic bags of tomatoes.
That was not the case with Mac & Cheese, which was presented by Boursin Cheese–a logical and tasty fit for this booth. After all, Boursin is a fine cheese that’s beloved at social gatherings in France (per Bousin, and since their corporate website says so, it must be a fact). It’s sophisticated stuff for discerning palates, not some swill like Babybel. Never mind the fact that they’re both made by Bel Brands USA (and also the reality that Babybel is a delicious guilty pleasure). But I digress!
Note that’s all past tense. The Mac & Cheese booth is dramatically different this year, with a new menu.
Anyway, let’s start with the 2022 Mac & Eats food and drink menus:
- Traditional Macaroni & Cheese with herbed panko (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
- Cowboy Macaroni & Cheese with smoked pork belly, brisket burnt ends, pickled peppers, onion straws, and barbecue aïoli (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
- Chili-Cheese Macaroni & Cheese with sour cream and cheddar cheese (New) (Plant-based) (Emile’s Fromage Montage)
Mac & Eats Beverages:
- 81Bay Brewing Co. Lemon Hazy IPA
- Catena White Clay Sémillon-Chenin (New)
- Evolution by Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir (New)
Now our photos and reviews of each item at the Mac & Cheese marketplace from 2022…
Traditional Mac & Cheese ($5) – This is the straightforward macaroni and cheese dish, with herbed panko added to the mix.
Our portion here was pathetically small, but that’s okay–Disney was just looking out for our waistlines! 😉 Joking aside, we really didn’t mind because this mac & cheese was dry and uninspired. Not recommended–avoid this dish.
Chili-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese ($5.50) – This is the plant-based option, featuring meatless house-made ground “beef” plus beans, corn chips, and other ingredients that should probably have air quotes around them.
The “beef” is actually quite good, making for a hearty and satisfying dish here. The other ingredients work well with it, and make this shockingly convincing as chili mac & cheese. You can taste a slight difference in the “meat,” but I probably would’ve guessed it was just a bit lower quality–rather than plant-based–if I had to guess without looking at the menu. Recommended.
Cowboy Macaroni and Cheese ($6.25) – This mac & cheese is topped with smoked pork belly, brisket burnt ends, pickled peppers, onion straws, and barbecue aioli.
Every component coalesces and makes for something truly magical in this mac & cheese. It’s perfectly rich and decadent, with an interesting and surprisingly ambitious flavor for what could also pass as a simple comfort food. The Cowboy Mac & Cheese is the true saving grace of this booth–which used to be an exceptional marketplace–and the reason to stop here. Highly recommended, worthy of our List of the 10 Best Dishes & Desserts at the 2022 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival (that was made before the second wave of marketplaces opened).
Ultimately, Mac & Cheese is an underwhelming booth at the 2022 Epcot Food & Wine Festival. This is mostly due to our knowledge of how good it was in the past, and how lackluster it is now by comparison. Don’t get me wrong, the Cowboy Mac & Cheese is absolutely fantastic, but this lineup used to consist of 4 different macaroni and cheese dishes of that caliber.
Here’s hoping the “good” version of this booth makes a comeback in 2023. As much as we love mac & cheese, it’s hardly the pinnacle of culinary ambitiousness, and if it’s going to have a booth dedicated to it at a “foodie” event, it should at least be high quality and somewhat envelope-pushing.
Check out our Global Marketplace Booth Menus & Photos for the 2022 Epcot Food & Wine Festival Booth Menus post if you want to see and read more about every menu this year! You’ll also want to read our full 2022 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival Guide before you go to get an idea of what to do, strategy for the festival (yes, you will need a strategy), and much more!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the Mac & Cheese Marketplace? Have you tried any of the four food items at this booth? What did you think of them? What do you think of this booth? Does it live up to the quality of Cheese Studio, or is it an inferior replacement? Questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
What kind of peppers were pickled?
Tom,
Those pictures of the Lobster Mac & Cheese does not look like lobster. It looks like diced summer sausage on top of the mac & cheese.
Thank you for your thoughts, hints reviews and Keeping us informed. Is there any place to find the nutritional values for the booths and restaurants for DW? I am looking forward to trying as much as possible but my friend (newly diabetic) has to be so careful. Thanks
Thanks for continuing to go and post updates Tom! The mac and cheese is making me hungry 😀 I always enjoy when you do ones that are “less common’ such as the food or items in the gift shops at the parks or hotels. Especially now that it looks like we’re not going to be going to WDW any time soon
Have I ever attended a Food & Wine Festival at Epcot? No. Am I planning to this year? Also no. Will I continue to read your reviews for every menu item of food I will never eat because I find them entertaining? Yes.
This is totally off-topic, but I have a question related to Flower & Garden Festival merchandise. My sole reason for going to Epcot is to, hopefully, purchase the Orange Bird juice glass, pitcher and Minnie Ears. Has anyone visiting Epcot seen these items in stock? The shopping link on My Disney Experience no longer shows merchandise availability in parks. It is now a link to shopDisney website. Thanks to anyone who can help!
There’s tons of the Orange Bird stuff all over stands in World Showcase. Not sure about the ears.
Thanks so much, Tom. You saved me from going the Ebay pirate route.
I would also LOVE a coffee-table book of your amazing photography.
There are a couple of locations in Epcot currently offering Flower and Garden Festival merchandise. I was just there last Friday and Sunday.
I must admit, I groaned as soon as I saw the headline of a booth dedicated to Mac & Cheese. I’d have thought with the tourist crowd reduced and the “locals” crowd increased, they’d be pitching slightly higher in terms of ambition. That said given the circumstances I can understand the whole event being a bit phoned in.
The new restrictions on food consumption would make the event far less enjoyable anyway, unfortunately. Is there something specific to the U.S. that makes the slightly heavy-handed/micromanaging approach necessary? In the U.K. face coverings are now mandatory in various indoor settings which is mostly accepted/complied with but there is no enforcement and society seems to have accepted that 100% compliance through rigid rules is not achievable or desirable. In particular the U.K. and U.S. appear to have taken very different approaches in terms of people with disabilities that make mask-wearing difficult.
There definitely IS something specific to the US that makes the current approach neccessary. (sadly)
“Is there something specific to the U.S. that makes the slightly heavy-handed/micromanaging approach necessary?”
I feel like this is probably rhetorical. If not, see social media, American cable news, or any number of past debates over individual liberties. It’s disappointing, but not even remotely surprising.
Hello cdd89! There are a lot of people trying to get around the rules (or blatantly ignoring the rules) which makes it so that more have to be implemented for Cast and guest safety. When cast notice issues arising, they can report it, and unions have been stepping in to try and increase their safety, as a cast-wide spread could be devastating for Disney.
Really hoping to score some of that Gourmet Mac & Cheese when we (hopefully!) visit in September! Looks glorious!
I can’t wait to try.
Now I I wish we knew when this festival ends–I would consider moving up our November vacation to earlier in November if necessary to be able to do this festival and this Mac and Cheese! The reason we had chosen the weekend before Thanksgiving was because of the D23 Destination Disney event which of course has been canceled and will go virtual instead at some point. So I am half joking but really I could move it up. I do love Mac and Cheese!!!